Summary Conformity Specification point 1/6 for Social Influence AQA A level
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Course
Social Influence
Institution
AQA
Full AO1 and AO3 notes on the first specification point 'Types of Conformity'. These notes got me and A* and are worded for perfect mark scheme answers. These are a combination of information from the Hodder Education AQA textbook, Illuminate Publishing AQA textbook and my own class notes.
● Types of conformity: internalisation, identification and compliance.
Explanations for conformity: informational social influence and
normative social influence, and variables affecting conformity including
group size, unanimity and task difficulty as investigated by Asch.
Social influence - how the actions thoughts and attitudes of an individual are affected by others
Conformity
A form of social influence that results from exposure to a majority. A person's behaviour/opinion
changes due to real or imagined group pressure. This reduces cognitive dissonance
(unpleasant feeling from two contradicting beliefs)
KELMAN suggested 3 LEVELS OF CONFORMITY
1. Compliance (NSI) - shallowest level of conformity. A person changes public behaviour
but not private belief, short term change to gain approval
2. Identification (NSI) - middle level of conformity. Person chances public behaviour AND
private belief but only when in presence of group because they want to fit in. They
identify with the group and value it. However still a temporary change. E.g. adopting the
views of the army but loosing them after leaving
3. Internalisation (ISI) - deepest level of conformity. Person changes public behaviour and
private belief for the long term even with the absence of group pressure
DEUTSCH and GERARD suggested EXPLANATIONS FOR CONFORMITY
Informational social influence (ISI)
- Conforming to gain knowledge and be ‘correct’. Cognitive process as you THINK
- Often occurs when situation is ambiguous/an expert is present
- Evolutionary basis for survival
- Involves internalisation
Evaluation
+ Jenness jelly bean jar estimations provides research support for ISI. In the ambiguous
situation, participants changed their private estimates closer to others after group
discussion showing internalisation. This is an artificial task so lacks mundane realism.
Using males so cant generalise samples.
Normative social influence (NSI)
- conforming to fit in with group for social approval. Emotional process as you FEEL
- Often occurs in situations where rejection is feared/social disapproval
- Involves compliance an identification
Evaluation
+ Research support from Asch
- Individual differences affect conformity as McGhee and Teevan found people with a
greater need for affiliation (need for association with others) were more likely to conform.
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